By Rachel Weiner
Two Virginia state troopers killed (click here) doing surveillance work during Saturday’s white nationalist rally in Charlottesville were well-known to Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
H. Jay Cullen, 48, was a veteran pilot who spent several years shepherding the governor around Virginia. Berke Bates, who would have turned 41 on Sunday, was just beginning to realize a lifelong dream of becoming a helicopter pilot.
“I was close to both of those state troopers,” McAuliffe (D) said at a memorial service in Charlottesville on Sunday morning. “Jay Cullen had been flying me around for three-and-a-half years. Berke was part of my executive protection unit. He was part of my family. The man lived with me 24-7.”
Cullen was the commander of the State Police Aviation Unit.
“They’re still coming to terms with it,” Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said of the troopers under Cullen’s supervision. “It’s very raw.”...
